Bravebird

Performer: Amel Larrieux
Engineer: Eric 'Ibo' Butler; Andy Schlesinger; Laru Larrieux...
Distributor: Alternative Dis. Alliance

Notes: Producers: Laru Larrieux, Threadhead, Basho Ink, Amel Larrieux. Audio Mixers: Eric "Ebo" Butler; Andy Schlesinger; Laru Larrieux. Songwriter-vocalist Amel Larrieux's style is as multihued as the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York in which she was raised. Knocking around in the mix are the elasticity and heartbreak of Billie Holiday's jazz, the deep soul of post-Motown R&B circa the Isley Brothers, the defiance of country rockers like Bonnie Raitt, and the modern urban-pop know-how of Alicia Keys. Amel first garnered attention as the singing half of critically acclaimed jazz-tinged R&B duo Groove Theory, and the music continues that line on much of her second album, BRAVEBIRD, particularly on funky message-songs such as "Giving Something Up" and the African-scat/hip-hop hybrid "Congo." Throughout the satisfying album, she uses her immense talents to their utmost over an assortment of sultry tunes, each born out of the love between herself and her husband and co-writer, Laru. This bond lends an aura of impenetrable sincerity to compositions like "We Can Be New" with its images of trees intertwining. The most blissfully naked moment is "Sacred," where over a gradually more insistent acoustic guitar, she channels Janis Ian, languorously musing about the world, concluding, "maybe there never was [anything sacred] at all" with perfect understatement--a sweet, simple, honest notion that exemplifies a softly powerful record.

Rolling Stone (2/5/04, pp.56-7) - 3.5 stars out of 5 - "[L]arrieux brings together the grit of the Roots and the elegance of Sade....[O]ne of the most off-the-hook new soul albums in years."

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